Bhutanese vehicles impounded from Tibetan monastery

Police impounded four luxury cars bearing Bhutanese number plates and having no Indian registration or valid ownership documents.

In a major operation,the police on Thursday impounded four luxury cars including a Land Cruiser and a Land River bearing Bhutanese number plates and having no Indian registration or valid ownership documents. While three of these vehicles were found at a famous Tibetan monastery in Bhattu,near Palampur in Kangra district,the other was found nearby.

Kangra SP Daljit Thakur confirmed the seizure of the four vehicles,all bearing Bhutan VIP numbers. While two vehicles had the same numberplate (BHT 27),BPL 0055 and BG 01 79 were the numberplates of the other two. We had received inputs about these vehicles being used by certain persons of the Tibetan Monastery. The police went to the complex and found three vehicles parked there. When we asked for the documents of these cers,the monastery staff failed to come out clean, he added.

When asked if the top monk at the monastery,who is also the mentor of Karmapa Lama,was using these vehicles,Thakur said: We do not know this right now and will be able to find out after thorough investigations. I am writing to the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence so that an inquiry can be conducted into the source of the vehicles,tax evasions,if any,and also to find out if any law was broken while importing the vehicles to India.

The SP added that plying imported vehicles without valid documents of ownership and registration numbers of Indian origin is an offence under the Motor Vehicles Act. According to officials,the vehicles have been under surveillance of state and central intelligence agencies for sometime now.

Only a month ago,the Kullu police had imposed a Bhutanese luxury car following a tip-off by central intelligence agencies. When questioned,its occupants failed to produce valid documents.

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